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Such a profusion of hair was not aesthetically pleasing in a woman; it was too coarse, too… too aggressively sexual.
No, Sally would not be like that, he assured himself, and unlike Rebecca she would be grateful to him for everything he did for her. How could she not be, when she compared the life she had now with everything that he could give her?
The sister might become a problem, but Kenneth knew that he would be more than a match for her.
‘Stop worrying,’ he told Sally gently when he saw her expression. ‘Everything’s going to be all right. I promise…’
‘I don’t want to hurt Joel,’ Sally whispered.
‘He deserves to lose you,’ Kenneth told her.
‘Me, yes… but not the children…’
She felt Kenneth tense slightly. ‘Sally,’ he began. ‘I don’t…’
As he moved his arm to release her, Sally glanced at his watch, shocked to see how late it was.
‘Oh, Kenneth, I must go; Paul and Cathy will be home from school soon and I don’t want Joel getting suspicious…’
She was already hurrying towards the front door, her body tense and anxious. She had stayed longer than she had anticipated…
‘No, you’d better drop me off here,’ she told Kenneth some time later as he turned into her road.
‘I’ll ring you soon,’ he promised her as he stopped his car and she got out.
‘Not at home…’ Sally begged him. ‘Joel…’
‘At work,’ he agreed.
As she started to straighten up he caught hold of her hand and lifted it to his mouth, gently kissing each individual finger.
Nervously Sally glanced over her shoulder to make sure that no one was watching.
‘One day soon I’m going to do that to every single inch of your skin,’ Kenneth promised her softly. ‘One day, very, very soon now, Sally.’
* * *
Her face still felt hot and flushed when she unlocked the back door. The untidiness of her own kitchen, instead of irritating her as it normally did, felt oddly relaxing.
The pale, clean austerity of Kenneth’s house had made her feel uncomfortable, she acknowledged; it was too perfect, too immaculate… not really a home at all. She’d felt constantly on edge the whole time she was there, afraid that she might drop something, damage something, ruin that perfect paleness.
She shivered suddenly, the euphoria induced by Kenneth’s company and his flattery abruptly deserting her. No matter how hard she tried she just could not imagine her children living in Kenneth’s immaculate home.
Or wanting to leave Joel?
The tiny nagging feeling that somehow over these last months Joel had supplanted her in their children’s affections suddenly crystallised into a full-blown fear that, asked to make a choice between them, they might actually choose their father.
The children had always been closer to her than to Joel, not by her choice or design, but surely mothers generally always were closer to their offspring?
Now Joel was the one they turned to, not her; Joel was the one…
She froze as she caught sight of the note propped up on the kitchen table, panic exploding inside her as she frantically ran across the kitchen and picked it up.
‘Cathy in hospital,’ Joel had written baldly, his handwriting hurried and unsteady.
Sickly Sally put down the note. Cathy—in hospital. Why… when… how…?
Picking up her car keys, she ran towards the door. It didn’t matter that it would be easier and quicker to ring up and find out what had happened… she had to be with her daughter.
